Weight Loss Spotlight

How To Build Muscle

If you have ever tried to build lean muscle mass you know how hard it can be. It's because most of us do not have the knowledge we need to actually increase our muscle mass.

The skeletal muscle feeds from protein and although you probably think that by just eating protein and train hard, you will grow lean muscle mass, it's not that simple. To be able to increase your lean muscle mass you have to first of all eat an adequate amount of calories from protein, carbohydrates and fat just to have the energy to train hard enough to build muscle.

Besides training hard, correct, and often enough, you also need the essential rest in between workouts so your muscle has a chance to actually grow. The old saying that "muscle grows while you sleep" is pretty much true. While you are sleeping growth hormone is released in your body from the pituitary gland.

The best nutritional method to stimulate release of growth hormone is to supplement your diet, using certain amino acids. The most effective amino acids for growth hormone release are tryptophan, glycine, ornithine and arginine.

As far as what to eat to build muscle, your body needs a good well balanced diet consisting of protein, carbohydrates and fat. The meals should be eaten three hours apart where each and every meal should contain carbohydrates, fat and protein. Additionally, a protein powder, such as whey protein or soy protein, might be used as a supplemental source of quality protein taken in between solid food meals. Make sure you are drinking water, preferably filtered tap water or distilled water, for proper hydration and protein metabolism.

Other supplements that might be beneficial besides a good branch chained amino acid product, is glutamine and creatine monohydrate. Anybody who is trying to put a few pounds of muscle on, should be lifting weights between 4-5 days a week with at least 48 hours rest per muscle group between workouts.

Remember, the muscle is growing when it is resting and recovering from the hard workout you put it through.

The bio mechanical principle behind training to build muscle is to overload the muscle with a weight heavier then what the muscle is use to handle. By doing this you are basically forcing the muscle to grow stronger to be able to meet the weight overload and consequently also forcing the muscle to grow bigger.

During the weight lifting workout one should strive to reach point of failure at every set while keeping a correct and proper form through the exercise. If you have your mind set on 12 repetitions in a set of shoulder-presses with dumbbells and you did not feel like you squeezed out the last repetition when you reached your twelfth one, then keep going for a few more and use common sense to feel when you reach the point of failure. It's only then, that the muscle reacts to the load of weights forced upon it and it has to increase in strength to meet the new challenge.

When training for muscle growth, you can use the superset training system. To superset a muscle group means that you pick three or four different exercises for the same muscle, let's say deltoids, that you alternate a set of each of, with no rest in between.

Starting out with lateral deltoid raises, for 12 repetitions, you move straight to flies with dumbbells for 12 repetitions to finish up with a set of rear deltoid raises also for 12 reps.

This type of workout will give you the ultimate pump in the muscle belly and guarantee an increase in size and strength with repetitive training sessions. The secret to muscle growth is consistency, discipline, practical training knowledge and determination.